They've swooped in Melbourne's groovy inner-suburbs, such as Fitzroy North and St Kilda, in outer suburbs such as Cranbourne, and in leafy suburbs in between.
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After a wet winter, magpies across the state have begun swooping on walkers, cyclists, children walking to school – even a person walking from the letterbox to the front door – as they protect their young.
And in at least one case – reported on a map that records magpie swooping incidents across Victoria – they've drawn blood.
"Very aggressive, attacks everyone who passes. My two children who walk to school have been attacked and blood drawn," wrote one parent, in a recent post on the environment department's 2016 Victorian Magpie Map about an incident in Rowville.
"Little bugger attacked and got my two-year-old on the ear at the edge of the playground," wrote another, about an incident in Mildura.
"He is a nasty piece of bird," wrote another, about an incident at Donald last week.
There have been 117 reported bird swooping incidents so far this season, overwhelmingly by magpies. Last season there were 150.
Abby Smith, regional wildlife officer with the environment department, said the Magpie Map was a helpful tool that alerted people to locations where swooping had occurred.
"The best practice is to avoid that area – it's not for a long time," she said.
Swooping was part of the "natural behaviour" of magpies, she said.
"It's mostly the male that does the swooping ... it's behaviour that they do for protection."
If people were in areas with potential for swooping, Ms Smith said it was wise to wear a hat and sunglasses, carry a sun umbrella and travel in a group if possible.
It was sensible for cyclists to dismount and push the bike through the area.
"If you're walking through the area quickly, it seems to be a less aggressive approach than someone racing through with a push bike, so they may be less inclined to swoop," she said.
Darryl Jones, Professor of Urban Ecology from Griffith University, said swooping magpies approached with stealth, always from behind.
"It only happens when chicks are in the nest. So not when there's eggs, not when they're building the nest, not when the chicks leave the nest," Professor Jones said.
"It's almost always the males. Their job is to keep predators away and they do so for all sorts of things – snakes, cats, dogs, everything else and in some cases people," he said.
Professor Jones said it was not known what triggered some magpies to become aggressive "but it doesn't seem to be much".
But for those concerned about swooping magpies, Professor Jones also offered some good news, explaining that less than 10 per cent of male magpies swooped.
"An absolute majority of magpies don't even look sideways at people.
"They're completely used to us, they live in the suburbs with us," he said.
A magpie "attack zone" extended for about a 100 metre radius from the nest.
"It's actually a fairly small area really," he said.
Magpies swooped men more than women, and boys more than girls, he said.
